


For Now

by MinilocIsland



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Friendship, Gen, set during s2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 23:40:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16881483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinilocIsland/pseuds/MinilocIsland
Summary: What if Isak had run into Eva instead of Eskild when things fell apart at home?





	For Now

**Author's Note:**

> The friendship between Eva and Isak has always fascinated me. A few days ago I discussed with a friend what would have happened if Isak would have moved in with Eva instead of kollektivet. And out of that, this ficlet was born.   
> It also fills the prompt "stars" for the Evakteket SKAMenger hunt.  
> Enjoy!

“Don’t tell Jonas,” is the first thing he says the minute he steps over the threshold to the guest room, dumping his bag by the foot of the bed. She can see the restrained dejection in his eyes as he looks around the room – the quilted white bedspread, the small watercolor paintings on the walls, the ceramic pot filled with dried rose petals on the dresser.

Eva shrugs. “I won’t. Unless you want me to. Sometimes –”

“Not your mum either,” he cuts her off, sitting down on the bed, shoulders folding in on themselves. 

She nods, leaning towards the dresser, watching him as he raises his chin, looking at her with a defiant expression. “I won’t – but you know, she’s never here, and when she is, she’s still just working. I don’t think she’ll notice anything anyway.”

“Yeah.” He looks down at his hands. “It’s just – I wanna be sure. I don’t know what would happen if – you know.”

No. She doesn’t either.

She’d run into him by chance, on her way to Jonas to pick up a sweater she’d forgotten there sometime before Christmas. Suddenly, she’d seen Isak stride towards her on the pavement, hurrying forward, eyes on the ground, a bag slung over his shoulder. Something about his whole demeanor had made her pause then, waiting there until he’d almost bumped into her, perhaps too lost in thought to notice her until she was right in front of his nose.

“What are you doing here?” he’d asked, incredulous, like she wasn’t allowed to walk the same streets as him, in the neighbourhood where they’d all grown up. Where they'd ridden their bikes to the park in the afternoon ever since middle school.

She’d shrugged, eyeing him with caution. “On my way to Jonas’. Where are you going?” She’d nodded at his duffel bag, suspiciously full for a regular Saturday afternoon.

“Nowhere.” He’d started, like he’d been trying to get away from her.

And even if they hadn’t always been the best of friends – last fall’s memories fresh in mind – she’d known him long and well enough not to swallow the obvious lie and let him go.

“Is everything okay?” She’d put a hand on his arm, and he hadn’t exactly leaned into the touch, but he didn’t shake her off, either. “Did they fight again?”

He’d snorted, a short, humourless laugh. “You could say that.”

“Are you –” She’d nodded at his bag again. “Do you – should we go back to my place?”

And she’d also known him well enough to know that he’d try to manage all of this himself, that he’d shrug her off if she hadn’t acted then and there. 

So, she’d grabbed his arm and steered him down the street before he’d had time to protest.

She hadn’t said a word as they’d rounded the block and walked up to her front door, and neither had he.

And now, here they are, early May evening falling fast outside the window, the silence of the overly white and neat guest room palpable between them.

“She won’t come home for at least another five days, I think,” Eva says. “She’s at some conference in Tromsø again, and…” 

Her words trail off into the air, Isak looking out the window, face turned from her. 

“I just – I can’t go home,” he says. “They’re – she’s –” He bites his lip.

She waits, but nothing else comes. A huge part of her wants to hug him, but there’s something about his strained posture, the way his shoulders square and jut out to the side that makes her hold back.

“I’ll make some dinner,” she says instead. “There’s pizza in the freezer, if you want.”

He looks up at her, unsmiling, his mouth a thin line save for the bow in the middle. “Okay.”

The sky is dark as the timer of the oven beeps, only a deep shade of blue left at the horizon. Through the window she can see Venus hovering above the neighbour’s hedge. At least she thinks it’s Venus – but if anyone would know, it’s Isak.

That thought gives her an idea. 

She walks up to the back door and reaches for the switch beside it, watching the infrared heaters turns yellow, then a dark orange outside above the porch.

When she’s put the pizza on two plates, arranging them on a tray together with two glasses of Coke and cutlery, she calls out to him. “Isak!”

After a minute or so, he rounds the corner into the kitchen, hair crumpled on one side and eyes red, but he doesn’t say anything. Nodding to the back door, she lifts the tray and lets him pass.

He clears his throat, hand on the door handle. “Outside?”

“The heating is on,” she says. “I just – maybe it’s gonna sound really stupid, but I remembered when we were like, thirteen, and you were sad because Lise had broken up with you.” 

She pauses there, suddenly aware that this might not hold the same importance she once thought – but she also knows that this is something she can’t let on.

“And we went to the park that night and sat on the swings in the dark. And then you told me about some story your mum used to read to you when you were little, about how the stars are always the same no matter what happens and that it kind of gave you comfort to think about.” She’s rambling now, but at least he doesn’t walk away, or roll his eyes, so she goes on. “So I thought – yeah, the stars are out now, and it might – yeah. Be nice to sit outside. If you want to.”

His mouth is still closed, his stare unreadable, hand still on the door. Until he bites his lip, and nods.

“Yeah. Okay.” And then, he adds, “Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm [irazor](https://irazor.tumblr.com) on tumblr, come say hi!


End file.
